A Man to His Mate

all the deftness and some of the dignity of a surgeon. There was no wasted move, there was no litter of preparation, ev

doing it with the calm precision of one who has every detail well mapped out and is moving on schedule.

curiosity, nor friendliness. They belonged in his unwrinkled face, they were altogether neutral. Yet they seemed covertly to suggest to Rainey that they might, on oc

I am your friend, that I would

inacity for a second or two. His English, save for the oddness of his idioms and a burr that made r's of most his l's, and sometimes reversed the p

as likelihood of interruption, so Rainey pl

share of this treasur

mised me

ed on, "but I am sure of it. I, too, am promised some of the gold, but they do not intend to give it to me. They will offer Mr. Lund only a small portion of what was originally arranged, the same amount as the rest of them are to get. He will ref

e allowed to be present. If trouble starts it will do so immediately. Mr. Lu

he first opportunity of sounding the

lk that over with Mr. Lund. I wanted

hey make too good living in California, and making more money than some of his countrymen. I do not think it help you fo

y with a little bow and a hissing-in breath. Back of

ent on lamely. He had come o

urance of victory by the looking ahead to all conceivable moves against him, and providing a counter-play that would achieve the game. It was borne in upon him that Tamad

mn him. Suppose I put something in that food, that they would not taste? I could send them all to sleep. I could kill them. I cou

t Rainey felt his horror gather slowly

or the rest would tear you apart. And if you murdered the whole ship where wou

o know that Rainey was in no position

t it would be easy. Yet, as you say, it would not help you to kill only few, those who will be at the meeting, for exampl

t and rattled the lid. The hunter, D

he said. "Eveni

hat Tamada had some basis for his expression that he expected to get his money. He knew something. Was it merely the Oriental method of jiu-jitsu, practised mentally as well as physically, the belief in a seemingly pass

staken his man? Did Carlsen plan to have Tamada undertake a wholesale poisoning to s

o supper. The girl was not present.

ll appearance of sincerity. "I've been worri

gh I still think your interference in my private aff

rom Carlsen were likely a Greek gift. And Carlsen rattled on during the meal in high good spirits, rallying Rainey abo

d, once in a while, as Tamada, like an animated sphinx, went about his duties, Rainey saw the eyes of Ca

s half-satirical sallies that, in the light of Sandy's revelation, showed the doctor considered himself the master of the situation, the winner of a game whose pieces were already on the board, though the players

ed with Lund in the latter's cabin, the giant pro

, the Pacific coast, an' they think they're goin' to git it. They're no more akin to us than a snake is a cousin to an eel. They're not of our breed, an' you can't

s voice to a

is on the Japanese. I don't know as any nation has openly claimed it, but it's a sure thing the Japs know of its existence. They don't know of the gold, or it wou

be inside the sealin' limit, an' they'll have right of search. They'd take it, ennyway, if they sighted us. They go by power of search, not righ

up to call theirs, if they found gold on us at all, it 'ud be all off with us an'

I'll be apt to do will be to scrag Tamada or he'll blow the whole proposition, whether we've got the gold abo

pped off to his consul in San Francisco the purpose of the expedition, sure of a reward equal to what his share would have been? If so, Rainey

know that somet

ble, I take it. You'll make out all right if it comes to that at all. Yo're well put up, an' you've got solid of late. Now yo're goin' to git a taste of life in t

o turn for another, an' have all the crowd thinkin' yo're goin' broke as they watch the pl

t is, though yo're my partner in this gamble. It's a trump, an' Carlsen's overlooked it. He figgers he's stacked the deck an' fixed it so's

a drink. Lund was right, he was nervous, bothering over what the outcome migh

g them down. He did not know whether he would act in a manner that would satisfy himself. There was a nasty dou

Rainey. An' don't you worry none about that gal. She's a damn' sight more capable of lookin' after herself than you imagine. You ain't cou

he challenged

er in that way," Rainey

softly. "You haven't? Wal

it in the middle watch, but he could make nothing out of

, huddled forward. One man acted as lookout for ice. The smell of this was now unmistakable even to Rainey's inexperience. On certain slants of wind a sharper edge would come that bit th

hts were projected above the horizon in a low arch of quivering rose. And, out of the north, before the wind, the sea advanced in the long, smooth fo

not come aft or give any greeting to Rainey, but walked briskly about in couples, discussing something that Rainey did not doubt was the next day's meeting. Doubtless, in the co

over and over the situation as a squirrel might race around the bars of his revolving cylinder, and came to only one conclusion, the inevitable one, to let the matter develop itself. L

fused to act, and the skipper was too sick to leave his room-who was going to navigate the schooner? Not a blind man. And

d they handle the schooner? He, in his capacity of eyes for Lund, would be

on his mulling over

ose on the st

er, throwing the Karlu

erialized in the soft darkness and floated off again to dissolution like the ghost of an island, leaving behind the bitter ch

e beam with the seas surging about them and breaking with a hollow boom upon their cavernous sides. And this was in the open sea. Lund had suggested that the stra

eep, it would not come to him. Hansen had taken over the deck stolidly enough, with no show of

Now we bane goin' to have one hard yo